About

Born Wild: An Adventure Film About Motherhood

$47,379

pledged of $45,000 goal

1,004

backers

WHAT WE'RE DOING

We are raising funds to produce Wild Child, the first episode for the Born Wild film series, and to build a community website housing tips, tricks and inspirational media. Our mission with this project is to empower parents to raise kids who are connected to wilderness and wildness by sharing authentic stories, essential issues, and actionable solutions. We already have a growing collection of gorgeous footage and are ready to go full-force into production.

As society's relationship with nature declines, so does the health of our children.

WHY KICKSTARTER?

This project has evolved organically in response to the community that has sprung up around it. Until now, we’ve donated our time, money and resources to creating content and building the online platforms where we’ve been sharing it. But we cannot continue without your support. We are on Kickstarter to raise crucial funds and awareness for our project so that we can move forward with creating the film and the supporting website & its content.

We are passionate about this film and the positive impact it could have, but it must be done professionally in order to reach and speak to the audiences we most want to reach. We can’t make this happen without sufficient funding.

WHAT THIS KICKSTARTER WILL MAKE POSSIBLE

Your donation will enable the production of the first episode in the Born Wild series! Films are expensive to make, and this Kickstarter will cover travel, insurance, the film crew, editing and other costs necessary to gather all our footage. Incorporated in this budget is Kickstarter’s 10% fee, as well as the cost of your rewards. Additional funds will enable this project to go even further.

If this project funds, we'll go into production this winter! In spring of 2016, Wild Child will make its World Premier.

ABOUT EPISODE ONE: WILD CHILD

Wild Child is an adventure film about motherhood. We'll take on summits and whitewater; we'll sweat and struggle and get lost and find ourselves. Midst the sunshine and waterfall hikes and rainstorms and desert slogs, the bear hugs and tears of joy and shouts of triumph, we'll get real with the way we parent and the effect that has, not only on our children, but on the world that they'll inherit from us.

The millennial mamas we're documenting are all raising their kids to unplug and connect with nature. We'll visit these families in their respective homes in Utah, Arizona, and California to document them doing what they do: backpacking, night kayaking, rock climbing, sleeping under the stars, and just living. We’ll learn how they overcome challenges, push themselves to find new ones, and grow stronger through it all.

In the spring of 2016, we’ll bring everyone together for an epic group adventure! We’ll seek summits, make mudpies, and learn how nature and the bonds it creates can empower us to reach our greatest potential as individuals and as parents.

ABOUT THE BORN WILD SERIES

This documentary film series will address the most important issues surrounding the lack of nature in the lives of today’s youth by highlighting actionable solutions and inspiring stories from those aiming to buck this trend. In creating our series, we'll incorporate the voices of scientists and childhood developments experts about the benefits that connecting with nature can have on kids, their families, and our environment.

Episode Two follows a three-generation-deep family on a backcountry adventure into Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains to explore what it means to pass on an inheritance of wildness. In Episode three, we'll meet a native Alaskan family raising their children with a subsistence lifestyle that connects them with the natural world.

Photo by Meredith Meeks

THE BORN WILD WEBSITE

The average American child spends roughly 30 minutes a day playing outside. We believe that shifting this statistic is critical—for our society's health, and for that of our planet. As a compliment to the film, we’re creating a social network and website where adventurous (or adventure-curious) parents can find tips, tricks, how-tos, inspiring stories, and a community forum. We hope that Born Wild will empower all parents to raise kids who are connected to wilderness and wildness.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Kickstarter is all about community—we’re here not only to raise funds, but awareness as well! If you’re inspired by the movement to get more kids outdoors, if you want to see more adventure films made about (and by!) women, or just want to see Brooke, Morgan and Shannon on the big screen with their young’uns, share our project with your friends and family!

BACKER REWARDS

We are so grateful to every single one of you who joins us on this adventure! From high-fives to limited-edition gear to executive producer credit, we’ve got a lot of ways of saying thank-you. It’s your pick.

$350 + $1000 LEVELS

Mooney Falls, Arizona // Photo By Aly Nicklas

Endangered Red Colobus Monkey, Zanzibar // Photo by Aly Nicklas

Aspens in Crested Butte, CO // Photo by Aly Nicklas

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

An Alaskan upbringing left Aly Nicklas with serious thirst for adventure and a deep love for wild places. She’s a writer, photographer, and filmmaker [director: Coming Home (2014), and Knee Deep (2015), both of which premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride, and are currently screening at film festivals worldwide]. In 2011 Aly founded Just Rite Media, a Boulder-based production company that produces documentary films and commercial work; she has since gone NOVA with Alisa. Her writing and photography have appeared in numerous publications, among them Active Junky, The Huffington Post, Denver Post, LIVESTRONG, Climbing, Urban Climber, and Deadpoint. The empowerment of women is one of her biggest passions.

Alisa worships the wilderness and is 100% dedicated to adventure. One day she will make her own babies, but right now she's overwhelmed with how perfect her 11 nieces and nephews are and gets her kid-time teaching them to skateboard, throwing sleep-over parties in her tipi, and taking them on excursions where they discover they enjoy things like eating eel. Alisa is a writer, publisher, and filmmaker with a track record of involvement in projects that make a lot of noise to promote positive social causes–recent partners include Honor The Treaties and the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. Knee Deep, the documentary film about grassroots volunteerism she co-directed in 2014 with Aly Nicklas, is currently on international tour. Her work has been published in Women's Adventure Magazine, National Geographic PROOF, elephant journal, and elsewhere. She's represented by Foundry Literary + Media and holds a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Risks and challenges

Every documentary film comes with its challenges, and this one will be no different. We’ve got the mom’s busy schedules to accommodate, weather to consider, and we bet you can imagine some of the logistical challenges we’ll face taking a big group adventure with three moms and four kids!

Luckily, this isn’t our first rodeo. We've launched several successful Kickstarter campaigns. Our first film, Knee Deep, was funded here, and we were able to meet—and exceed—our production & distribution goals. It’s gotten into many notable festivals, including Wild & Scenic, the United Nations Association Film Festival, and Adventure Film, and it’s now on international tour with Mountainfilm. Our most recent Kickstarter, A 4-year-old's Portrait of the American West with National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey and his son Hawkeye, also funded successfully, and the book is on-track to be shipped to backers this spring!

One thing we are sure of—with the amount of press, professional, and community interest we’re already fielding for Born Wild, we know that once we’ve got this film made, it will see a wide release.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

I believe in napping between the trees!

Born Wild x Kammok! You'll get a limited edition Roo, an awesome camping hammock from Kammok, imprinted with the Born Wild logo, along with a set of Kammok's sturdy straps so you can tie it up anywhere, a Born Wild Camp Mug and a Born Wild Sticker! + the $25 level

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $200 or more
About $200

I believe in napping between the trees!

Born Wild x Kammok! You'll get a limited edition Roo, an awesome camping hammock from Kammok, imprinted with the Born Wild logo, along with a set of Kammok's sturdy straps so you can tie it up anywhere, a Born Wild Camp Mug and a Born Wild Sticker! + the $25 level

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

I believe this project will empower families to get outside!

You're an associate producer of Wild Child! You'll be listed as a producer in the credits, and receive a special mention (+ your headshot and bio, if desired) on our supporters list. + the $1000 Level!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10,000
About $10,000

I believe in healing the human/nature relationship.

As an Executive Producer, you will receive two tickets to the world premiere of Wild Child, in which you will have reserved seats with the Born Wild team. The whole team will take you out for dinner the night before the screening. You'll receive credit in the film as an Executive Producer, an HD digital download of the movie, and be included in the special thanks page of the Born Wild website + the $1000 level!